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I HAVE to lose some weight.

Started by LaurieS, January 05, 2011, 11:01:54 AM

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Faithlooksup

Kathleen,  what you described with your childhood memories of ice skating is exactly what I remember as well, yup, those where the days.....  The park we went to was two blocks away from us.  The pond was always frozen after Thanksgiving and a bunch of us would walk down to the park after dinner, everything was lit up as well as all the houses on our blocks being trimmed with Christmas, back then everyone decorated for Christmas...Christmas trees glowed from every window, as well as the outside of every house decorated in colors galore..We had no fears, for there was nothing to fear back then.  We lived life and enjoyed our childhoods.  Yes, we were snow bunnies, perhaps it was because we were  kids and we kept active so the cold did not bother or stop us, however I will take the cold over heat and humidity any day.

I Loved watching the Olympics last year~~of course the skating was my favorite, to watch the gracefulness along with the precise timings on the jumps and turns, every movement to the "tee."  I would watch in awe at the splendor of this sport.....and wish.....maybe in another life...

kathleen

Hi Faith,

I, too, would be more serious about my skating if I could do it over again.  In those days however girls rarely dreamed about becoming professional athletes.  I love your phrase, "the splendor of this sport."  That is a perfect phrase; Faith, you have a talent with words. 

My rink, too, was lit for the hockey players.  Yes, I saw the Christmas lights winking on the way home.  These were such wonderful hours.  Hard to describe fully to a non-skater in a warm climate, Laurie.

On my post about Grandma's cold weather wardrobe ritual, I forgot to add the part about socks and boots; two to three pairs of socks, warmest boots purchased a size large to accommodate. I think she must have added 20 pounds to her weight with all the gear.  But then she was set for the day.  She started Christmas shopping in January; my Grandma lived downtown, not on a farm "over the hills and through the dale."  We could hardly wait to see her come on Christmas Eve with all her shopping bags full of a year's excavating every sale and deal in St. Paul. 

Grandma was far more worried about crime than my mother, perhaps because she lived downtown.  She never allowed me out of her sight. She actually strung pots across the kitchen, attached to the back door, when she came to stay with us.  I wrote a memoir about her for my family because she had so many idiosyncratic habits.  A lot of those habits, eventually, made perfect sense to me.

Later we moved to Edina (Minnesota)  and lived near big fields where Southdale Center was built, supposedly the first indoor mall in the country.  Before all the development you could cut through two big fields to the mall.  I always did this and shudder now to think what could have happened to me on those long walks through this very tall grass in this very isolated spot.  Today I'd probably wind up on ID TV.  There was so much more freedom then.

Those were the days.

Kathleen


LaurieS

Quote from: kathleen on January 16, 2011, 07:14:26 AM
My rink, too, was lit for the hockey players.  Yes, I saw the Christmas lights winking on the way home.  These were such wonderful hours.  Hard to describe fully to a non-skater in a warm climate, Laurie.
Hey... we had roller skating.. I remember standing outside waiting for the wood floor rink to open, while dressed in my best long fringed jacket on a hot balmy Florida night. My bell bottom hip hugger jeans that were so tight I dare not fall, and looking forward to the sound of my wood wheels hitting against the floor.  It might not have been as eloquent but it was where we all hung out often on Friday and Saturday nights.. when we weren't being street punks.  Dang I use to look good in those hip huggers.

seasage

Kathleen and Faith,

My childhood memories are also filled with days spent on the ice.  I lived in northern Wisconsin.  In winter, the playing fields of every school in the city were turned into ice rinks, flooded and partially maintained by the fire department.  After each snowfall, we took our shovels to the nearest school - which naturally would have been our own elementary school - put on our skates and cleared the ice.  The 'professional' rink downtown had a big warming house, and I think they sold candy and soda, but I never had any money so I only used it for changing into my skates for a lesson each Saturday.  I remember once when I was about 12, our skating teacher took us to Madison to watch the state skating championships.  When we got there, he realized that there were very few entries in the 12-14 yr old category, so he made us put on our skates and skate around.  I did a couple of spins and a waltz jump - the only jump I ever learned - and won the state championship!  It was a joke even then, and I have no idea what happened to my trophy.

The biggest difference between then and now was the freedom and safety we all had.  We rode our bikes everywhere, went trick-or-treating without fear, and our parents never worried about our personal safety.

Pen

Seasage, I remember the waltz jump! I learned it too, although I had to ice skate indoors where I grew up and never entered a contest. Congratulations on your win! I used to dream of skating on a frozen pond or river, but have never had the opportunity (Joni Mitchell's "I Wish I Had a River.") Instead we skateboarded everywhere without shoes, helmets or pads. I broke my arm once. My kids wore helmets on their tricycles, I was so protective! We bodysurfed and skim-boarded, & walked or biked miles to each other's houses or to neighboring beach towns. No wonder we were slimmer and more fit.

There were some horrific accidents in our neighborhood, though - kids got hit by cars while running across our busy 2-lane highway, or got their bare feet chewed up by bicycle spokes, or became paraplegic due to surfing accidents. We loved our freedom, but there were consequences. Lately, in the community where I now live, we've lost kids mostly to auto accidents, then to snowboard/skiing/avalanche accidents, one or two to suicide or gun accidents, and a few to the war.

Trick or treating was completely different back in the day. We were allowed to run wild "in the 'hood." It was our night. The parents congregated at various houses to party and hand out homemade goodies, and we kids were out 'til late. Everyone looked out for us but gave us the feeling of freedom. No store-bought costumes for us; we prided ourselves on our creative get-ups (it was a rather artsy neighborhood.) Now we hold our children's hands and guide them to the front doors of houses we know, and then we check every piece of wrapped candy carefully. No handmade goodies like witches glass or popcorn balls to hand out :(  Still, I always made, or helped my kids make, their cosutumes. Thank goodness for hot glue guns, LOL!
Respect ... is appreciation of the separateness of the other person, of the ways in which he or she is unique.
-- Annie Gottlieb

Faithlooksup

Yup, Halloween was always fun.....besides the bag candy given out, Our Moms made fresh pop corn balls wrapped in cellophane, my mom would make homemade taffy apples wrapped in wax paper with a orange ribbon tied around each one, nickels, dimes and quarters were given out, candy corn.  You knew your neighbors, and that is when neighbors were neighbors, not like now...  Every house had decorative Pumpkins on the porch with candles glowing within, scarecrows and paper bats hanging from the trees, with the full moon and wind playing its part upon the large empty tree branches as our imaginations would soar they were large giant hands coming down to scoop us up, we would screech and run just haveing fun.

Kathleen, I also can remember my Grandmother pileing on all her winter clothing, her big old black rubber boots which zippered and her two pair of wollen socks which she wore.....and every Christmas we would get another new pair of woolen socks from her.  But boy could she bake up a storm~~tins and tins of christmas cookies galore... "And Fruitcakes."

How I do miss those days.....Gone but not forgotten...

Pen

Now I'm tearing up...my DM, long since departed, made candy apples for Halloween and fruitcake for Christmas. Her fruitcake was delicious, not at all like those of late-night comedy sketches. I guess soaking them in enough rum to keep a ship full of pirates happy did the trick  ;D

A family story tells of my little mother standing on the docks with the Native boys waiting to be thrown a salmon. The fishermen would toss the undersized fish to the kids, and my adult mom was short enough to pass. Who could tell the difference when everyone was covered in parkas and mukluks? They really had to suit up for winter near the Arctic Circle!
Respect ... is appreciation of the separateness of the other person, of the ways in which he or she is unique.
-- Annie Gottlieb

luise.volta

What lovely memories! Beautiful! I remember my mother sitting in a rocker by a kerosene lamp reading Indian lore stories to my friends and me at our summer, log cabin in Michigan, as we sat in a circle around her on the floor.  Sigh...........smile.........
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. Dalai Lama

Faithlooksup

Wow, Luise when you brought up the fact about Indian Lore stories...took me down another memory lane.....When we were kids every summer we went to the Dells....besides watching all the water shows the Indians would dress up in their head gowns etc and dance around the fires.  My grandmother always had us sit and watch them, I had asked her "Grandma do you like Indians?"  she replied, "very much so, Indians are quiet tho wise, they are filled with words of wisdom and know the earth thru nature, they can hear miles and miles away when the enemy is coming."  Of course she continued with her story which completely fascinated me....to this very day I am still fascinated with Indian Lores.  I believe Dahlia Lama is part Indian.

And then on another note, I still wonder what they smoked in that peace pipe at night time... ;D 8)

Faithlooksup

Pen, I had to laugh about the rum...you are so right about that..I do remember my Grandmother soaking the batter in rum for days...and that is why she had so many rum bottles.  I think she even used some type of a wine to..I think, I know she used something else to soak it in as well.  I can just remember she had a lot of soaking going during the xmas holidays.

Seasage, I do hope you find your trophy someday and display it...Good for you!!!  A great childhood memory...